It isn’t often that an image can shift a mindset. But a photo of a silent toddler washed ashore on a Turkish beach after a failed attempt to reach Europe has done just that.
In this edition of the Weekly, we bring you extensive coverage of the crisis sweeping the continent as thousands of refugees from the Middle East and beyond struggle to escape conflict and strife in the hopes of finding security on European shores.
Germany opened its doors, Austria assisted with passage, and some other European countries agreed to accept more of the men, women and children who are now on the move in the largest mass migration in a generation. What galvanised these nations to action? It may well have been that image of Aylan Kurdi, still wearing his shoes, face down in the Mediterranean sand.
We’ve got four pages of analysis and reportage from the Guardian’s staffers, and from our partner papers the Observer, Le Monde and the Washington Post. And we bring you observations from opinion-makers Jonathan Freedland, Owen Jones and David Marsh, who is the keeper of the Guardian’s editorial style guide. Our leader writers pitch in with their views on Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán, which rounds out the package.
In the United States, meanwhile, politics dominates the news agenda, even many months before the parties select their presidential candidates. Will it be Donald Trump for the Republicans? And can Bernie Sanders continue to erode support for Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton? The Weekly turns its attentions to this quite remarkable contest.
Elsewhere, we report on a crackdown in Cairo on street vendors, assess the first 100 days in office of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, consider a Chinese military parade that proclaims to be all about peace, review a lamentable year in Mexican politics, and analyse the implications of assured support in the Senate for the Iran nuclear deal.
Can a colour be outlawed? Malaysia’s home ministry briefly tried to ban yellow, the colour of protest, reports Oliver Holmes in an article about a corruption scandal engulfing the prime minister, Najib Razak. Oh, and we illustrated this story with a protester clad in ... yellow.
Our deeper-read Review reports on why it’s so difficult to breed pandas. It’s not all black and white, discovers Sam Knight in a super piece of writing that captures the personalities of the pandas at the Edinburgh zoo, and their panda keepers. Our global spread continues here with feature writing on Ethiopia, New Zealand, Paraguay and, from Le Monde, Gabon.
Animals abound on our Books pages, where London’s Georgian menageries feature. Flamingos warming by the fire, anyone?
Discovery journeys to the Arctic, as Observer science and technology editor Robin McKie sails the Northwest Passage to see how climate change is putting this pristine region in peril. Culture recounts a different sort of travel – the unconventional journey of Canadian musician Lowell and the origins of her breezy pop.
Sometimes I write about an edition and then sit back and marvel at the depth and scope we manage to pack into 48 pages. I hope you find serious and solid reading. Your comments are welcome, so please do email me by clicking here.
Would you like to change your delivery address? Your email address? Suspend delivery? You can manage your account online here.
Are you a subscriber looking for our digital edition? Click here. This edition can be viewed by subscribers on desktops, laptops, iPads, iPhones, some Kindles, Android tablets and smartphones. Log in on the device to the digital edition and the technology should take you to the correct format.
